When you play daily fantasy football, each week in the NFL season has the potential to be the best Sunday of your life. Thousands upon thousand dollars are up for grabs, and you have entered a ton of contests with lineups that you are confident will perform amazing. You’ve done hours of research, looked at all of the matchups, found your bargain players and high priced studs, and are already thinking about what you’re going to do with that top prize money.

Then, it happens.

Your players aren’t performing like you thought they would. That tight end who was supposed to be a breakout star at a low price? He has one catch for one yard. Your top tier quarterback-wide receiver stack? 10 points combined. The defense that was supposed to shut down the worst offense in the league? 38 points conceded by halftime.

Okay, maybe I over exaggerating a little bit, but this is the way I have felt over the past two weeks playing on FanDuel. It’s so frustrating doing your research and thinking you have the perfect lineup in place, only to watch it crumble in front of your eyes. However, the key here is not to get discouraged, and keep pushing on. I’ve come up with some key points for people that have struggled over the past couple weeks playing daily fantasy football, and hopefully you can find some solace in your struggles and get back on track in no time!

BANKROLL MANAGEMENT

There is a reason that this is in all caps. I cannot stress enough how important it is to understand this concept. After a week or two of losing, an average daily fantasy player will get fed up and attempt to spend all of their remaining money chasing a gigantic prize pool. Do not be that guy. Scale back a bit, and restrict yourself to only playing cash or 50/50 style games to build your bankroll back up. GPP Tournaments are awesome and can be a very profitable investment if you have a lot of money to spend, but if your funds are dwindling, I would advise staying away for a couple weeks.

Also, you should only spend a maximum of 10% of your bankroll each week. It may take awhile to regain your original investment, but sticking to a bankroll formula each week will prevent you from making rash decisions. 

Understand the game type that you are playing.

This is also a key to understand when on a losing streak. Often, players will fall in love with a player, but not realize that his true value may not be the best for the game type that they are playing. For example, I loved Stevan Ridley’s Week 4 matchup with the Oakland Raiders, as did a lot of people. However, Ridley is hardly involved in the passing game, and on FanDuel, receptions are worth 0.5 points. Ridley had a pedestrian game that week (19 carries, 54 yards, no touchdowns), and only registered 6.6 total fantasy points on FanDuel. I included Ridley on the majority of my teams that week, and was extremely disappointed. I should have looked to a more active pass-catching back that would have provided more of a threat to rack up receptions and total yards. Ground and pound back are great for standard fantasy, but pass-catching backs provided much more upside in daily fantasy football.

It’s okay to look for help! But don’t do anything stupid or irrational.

Chances are, you already know the first part of the statement above is true, but let me explain the second part. It’s okay to go online and read articles from folks that cover daily fantasy sports! Heck, even I consult some outside sources when I’m constructing my lineups; it’s not the end of the world to see what other people are thinking. However, be careful before you decide to start fork over money to people just to see what players that they are high on for that particular week. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t pay for any type of daily fantasy cheat sheet or lineup calculator, but be careful who you are buying from. Just because you’ve had a few bad weeks of daily fantasy, doesn’t automatically mean that the solution is purchasing help from an outside source. Trust yourself and your own research, but look for constructive criticism and other information from other fantasy experts as well.

Have fun, and remember that this is just a game.

I love fantasy football, and I spend a lot of time each week on it. But at the end of the day, it’s just a game, and you should have fun playing a game. It’s natural to be a little upset if your fantasy teams under-perform, but don’t let that ruin your Sunday of football. If you find yourself constantly pissed off because your fantasy teams aren’t performing, take a week off of daily fantasy, and just enjoy the games. You can often notice a lot more when you don’t have players playing in games, and you can use that knowledge the next week that you play.

Ask me your daily fantasy questions and share with me your lineups for this week on Twitter.